Sacha Baron Cohen in a scene from his new comedy Grimsby.Source:Supplied

SACHA Baron Cohen’s new film, Grimsby, is so outrageous, extreme and downright hilarious, it makes Borat look like a children’s movie.

“My aim is always to outdo myself. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails. The Dictator probably didn’t work so well,” Baron Cohen admits to news.com.au. “But when it goes well, it makes me happy.”

In his latest role as Nobby Butcher, his adventures with his long lost brother (Mark Strong), an ex-MI6 assassin, are creations from the kind of R-rated imagination best described as ‘highly questionable.’

Who else could cook up a scene in which the siblings nearly drown in elephant semen? He says, “Oh, I’m sure a few famous people have died like that.” Additionally, he has to perform a rather unorthodox lifesaving technique on his brother’s scrotum.

Grimsby probably isn’t a film you’d take your parents to.Source:Supplied

It begs the question, how does he even come up with such bizarre sexual scenarios?

“It’s not like I have an orgy every day,” Baron Cohen assures. “And seriously, the Motion Picture Association allows extreme violence in movies where you can have kids killing other kids on camera. That is PG-13, is it? But if you have sexual stuff, that’s much worse,” he shakes his head.

“It seems complete nonsense. What are we telling our children? It’s OK to take a gun and murder people indiscriminately but it’s not OK to be sexual? I think that’s a dangerous message. And yes, in the movie there are things involving genitalia, but they are life or death matters.”

No stranger to ruffling some feathers, last week we watched him crash the Oscars as Ali G, which his wife and partner-in-crime, Isla Fisher, helped him do.

“Well, they didn’t let me go on to present [the movie] Room as Ali G,” he says. “So my wife managed to sneak in the beard, glasses and hat in a bathroom next to the stage. Luckily, Hollywood is the one place where nobody asks any questions if you disappear with a woman into a bathroom for 40 minutes.”

No one knew Sacha Baron Cohen would turn up to present his award as Ali G — not even his co-presenter Olivia Wilde. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP

Not even Olivia Wilde, his co-presenter, knew of his plans. “I appeared literally on the side of the stage just with the beard stuck on. I put on the hat and I said to Olivia, ‘Listen, I’m doing Ali G. Tuck my hair into the hat’,” he laughs.

“She obliged and was fantastic. And then I went out and did it.”

Unsurprisingly, not everyone was thrilled with the outcome. “The Academy staff were all sarcastically saying, ‘Thanks a lot!’ And I think my publicist got in a bit of trouble. I don’t think they’ll be asking me back.”

Grimsby is sure to get him into some more hot water. It’s a spy spoof about Nobby, a hard-drinking soccer hooligan and unemployed father of nine, and his straight-laced brother, Sebastian, trying save the world from a terrorist plot. The film also stars Rebel Wilson, Penélope Cruz and in a stroke of fortuitous casting (the film was shot nearly two years ago), Donald Trump makes a cameo, of sorts.

“Yeah, Donald, he loves my work,” he sighs. “When I called him up, he was very excited. He worked for about a week; he was great. We gave him a wrap gift and he worked for minimum wage.” He laughs. “No, (the footage) wasn’t real. We didn’t get permission.”

Like the town of Grimsby itself, whose residents are angry at its portrayal, Trump is unlikely to enjoy his appearance in the film.

In person, Baron Cohen is friendly and engaging. In contrast to most celebs on the promotional trail, he’s genuinely pleased to be talking about his latest offering. Handsome (with characters such as Bruno and Borat its easy to forget the British comedian began his career as a model), he’s dressed conservatively in a well-tailored suit.

We’re so used to seeing Baron Cohen in costume that it’s easy to forget he’s quite good looking. Still, our Isla is a catch. Picture: AFP/Adrian Sanchez-GonzalezSource:AFP

As any journalist will tell you, it’s a rare occasion when he speaks to the press without hiding behind one of his characters. Animated and funny, he imitates my Australian accent, an art he has no doubt perfected with relative ease, considering he’s married to Fisher.

In fact, it seems he’s surrounded by Australian women. With Fisher playing a role in the film as an MI6 employee, and his onscreen girlfriend being played by Rebel Wilson, is it safe to say that Baron Cohen has a thing for Aussie women?

“Well, they are strong women, they are hilarious, and they are prepared to say what they think. Actually, my brother is married to an Australian woman as well so it’s a family penchant,” he says, laughing.

“The amazing thing about Australia is that you have this sort of domination in the acting world that really comes out of these soap operas. Didn’t Russell Crowe and Heath Ledger, and Naomi Watts do time on soaps? Haven’t they all done Neighbours and Home and Away? So it’s really these slightly cheesy soap operas that ended up being an amazing training ground for some of the world’s best actors.”

Rebel Wilson is the lucky lady who gets to play Sacha Baron Cohen’s lover in Grimsby.Source:Supplied

Although Fisher doesn’t have much onscreen time with her hubby, most actors prefer not to work even in the same film as their spouse.

He explains, “Well, because I’m a method actor I would go home with Rebel Wilson at night. Actually, I should tell you that Rebel is pregnant and the studio is really pressuring her to have the baby at the premiere,” he pauses. “No, no. On the contrary, it was actually great to work with somebody during the day and sleep in bed with them at night.” He deadpans, “And I want to thank Penélope Cruz for that. She was amazing.”

Talk about an odd pair. Lucky Isla has a good sense of humour. Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/APSource:AP

But he does scrub up all right. Picture: AFP / Adrian Sanchez-GonzalezSource:AFP